Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel (born November 29 1959), a current American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing the 5th Congressional District of Illinois (map), which covers the northside of Chicago and parts of Cook County.
Early history
Born in Chicago to a Israeli-American family, Emanuel graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981, and received a Master's Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. While still a student at Sarah Lawrence College, he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.
He volunteered at an Israeli Defense Forces supply base during the Gulf War, which prompted some blogsphere speculation, never substantiated, that he might be a Mossad spy in the White House. In his first Congressional primary campaign which was a nasty battle over a prized Democratic Party safe seat, the president of the Polish American Congress, Ed Moskal — who was supporting Emanuel's main rival — claimed that Emanuel was secretly an Israeli citizen and served in the Israeli army. Both claims were denied by Emanuel. Moskal also called Emanuel a "millionaire carpetbagger who knows nothing" about "our heritage."
Career in politics
For a time Emanuel worked as a professional ballet dancer, and then became a backroom political staffer specializing in fundraising initially in Illinois campaigns and then nationally. He began his political career with the consumer rights organization Illinois Public Action. He went on to serve in a number of capacities in local and national politics, including working for liberal Democrat Paul Simon's 1984 election to the U.S. Senate, national campaign director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 1988, and senior advisor and chief fundraiser for Richard M. Daley's victorious campaign for mayor of Chicago in 1989.
He joined then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's presidential primary campaign in 1991, serving as the campaign's as Director of Finance. Emanuel insisted that Clinton schedule a lot of time to fundraising rather than campaigning in New Hampshire. After much dispute within the campaign about the issue, Clinton eventually agreed, embarking on an aggressive fundraising campaign across the nation. The fundraising paid off later, providing the campaign a vital buffer to keep buying television time as attacks on character issues threatened to swamp Clinton's campaign during the New Hampshire campaign. Clinton's most serious primary rival Paul Tsongas later withdrew citing a lack of campaign funds.
Following the campaign, Emanuel became a senior advisor to Bill Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.
He left the White House to accept a well-paid position in investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Chicago where he worked from 1999 to 2002.
Congressional career
Emanuel was named the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2005. Prior to his work for Clinton, he had been employed at the same Committee. His role at the DCCC is leading fundraising efforts to support the Democrats strategy to improve its poor level of representation in the Congress, it has been in the minority in the House since 1994. He has declared that in his new role "winning is everything." The Committee's role is principally that of recruiting good candidates for the House and raising funds to assist new candidates and incumbents from the Democratic party.
Nicknamed "Rahmbo," the Congressman is well known for aggression and great intensity. He sent a rotting fish to a pollster whom he said sent inaccurate and poorly prepared research to him while working as national campaign director at the DCCC during the late 1980s.
He represents Chicago's north side, formerly the district of Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski. Like Rostenkowski, Emanuel serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. He received 78% of the vote in the Democratic stronghold in the last election.
He has maintained a 100% pro-choice voting record and generally supports liberal Democratic positions in the House.
Personal life
Emanuel's wife Amy, and their three children live in the north side of Chicago. His father, a pediatrician still practicing near Chicago, immigrated to the United States from Israel and spoke Hebrew with his son, when Emanuel was a boy. Emanuel, whose first name, Rahm, means "high" or "lofty" in Hebrew, and his wife are active members of a modern Orthodox congregation in Chicago.
Bradley Whitford's character Josh Lyman on television series The West Wing is loosely based on Emanuel. His brother Ari Emanuel is a Hollywood agent, and the basis for Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on HBO's series Entourage